Oiled up BP Judge Martin Feldman was required by both statutory and ethical considerations to recuse himself; at a absolute base minimum to disclose his appearances of conflict on the record; but he did neither. Any competent standard of lawyering would mandate the government to raise the issue if they are going to fight Feldman’s ruling; but they have not. The public ought to be asking what the hell is going on here.

Let me start by laying out a few details about Erik Prince that have been reported of late. Prince recently gave a speech I interpreted as a proposal for private contractors to serve as big oil’s enforcer–including in Nigeria and Iran Blackwater illegally tried (but allegedly failed) to negotiate a deal to train guards for [...]

And now we’re going to have to try to get them to give up Maguro sushi. Fearing that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will deal a severe blow to the bluefin tuna, an environmental group is demanding that the government declare the fish an endangered species, setting off extensive new protections under [...]

The breaking news this hour is the decision of Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana to grant a preliminary injunction to the moving plaintiff oil and gas interests and against the Obama Administration’s six month moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a bad decision.

I just got back from driving across the rust belt – Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, MI – and am catching up on all the interesting conversations you’ve been having this week while I was celebrating my mom’s birthday (thanks, once again, to bmaz for watching the liquor cabinet while I was gone). So for the [...]

Big Shot Tony Hayward goes yacht clubbing with his sleek racing sloop, the “Bob”, in the posh and prestigious J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Isle of Wight Race while the Gulf of Mexico dies from his gushing Macondo well.

Henry Waxman just put up a letter and a whole bunch of backup documents in preparation for a hearing with Tony Hayward Thursday. In it, he lists 5 shortcuts BP used in the days before the well explosion, all of them with real risks. But BP chose them to save money and time. Well Design. [...]

A week ago, Florida Senator Bill Nelson stated on MSNBC the BP Macondo well was substantially breached and there may be seepage and leakage from the well reservoir escaping through the surrounding sea floor. It appears Nelson was correct about the breach of well integrity and may well be right about seepage from the sea floor as well.

Apparently, the Brits are calling Americans–including President Obama–xenophobic for referring to the company shitting up our Gulf  as “British Petroleum.” So for this installment of my now-regular reflection on how, fifty-some years ago, we overthrew a democratically-elected government for that company shitting up our Gulf, I’m going to call it the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. You [...]

BP and the US government have yet again been dishonest about the nature and size of the oil gusher leaking into the Gulf of Mexico water; it is over twice the highest estimates to date.